Yet another tiny home prototype has caught our attention. But, unlike most tiny homes on wheels that can be driven to a new location, this prefabricated model is designed to be broken down and reassembled in less than a day.
In September 2015, Estonian design collective Kodasema created the prototype for KODA, a 270-square-foot prefab dwelling made of concrete that sells for around $111,000.
The free-standing home can be assembled on-site without a foundation. Residents of the KODA home can easily relocate in one day—the house can be assembled in seven hours, and dismantled in as little as four to prepare for transport.
The designers at Kodasema were inspired to create a housing model that answered to the needs of today's homeowners while still bringing a fresh sense of design to a sustainable, healthy, and easy to assemble home.
"Architecture is considered to be an 'eternal' art – the houses are built to last on the spot forever, therefore 'temporary' is considered a synonym of 'low quality' in the construction business," said the architects. "Needs of the communities and people change, however. So we should be able to make use of empty slots in the city centers that wait for the new skyscraper to be erected in 10 years. No need to make compromises in living quality for the pop-up village’s inhabitants."
The home needs to be connected to water, electricity, and a sewage system when it’s being used for a long period of time, but still has many green sustainability features. Solar roof panels provide power to the home and return energy to the gird, and LED lighting conserves energy. The home’s quadruple-glazed facade lets in natural light while preventing heat loss. The home can temporarily be used off the grid in remote settings as well with the solar power it generates. The glazed facade and vacuum-insulated concrete walls not only provide insulation, but keep out noise, dust, and bacteria as well.
“We look for the most straightforward way to create the perfect place to live in. To me, what we create is an environment in which man’s greatest technological achievements are combined with everyday knowledge of architecture and production," said team member Hannes Tamjärv.
The home consists of a small living room area in front of the glass wall, with a kitchen at the back of the first floor. A ladder leads up to a walled platform above the kitchen space with space for a bed.
At the end of KODA’s life, the 9 cubic meters of concrete that were used to create the home can be recycled and reused easily.
“It's like looking through a spyglass – from one end you see the universe, the macro world; from the other end you see something much smaller, the micro world. KODA combines the two," said team member Kalev Ramjalg of the design. "It’s so small in size, but so big in terms of its technical achievements and other features. There’s a lot more to it than there seems at first."
This article was originally featured on our sister site BUILDER >>
